A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the second Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) GEO-2 satellite for the U.S. Air Force at 5:21 p.m. EDT on March 19, 2013

Highly sophisticated infrared eyes to spot incoming enemy missiles against the United States and its allies will rocket into space Tuesday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 booster from Cape Canaveral.

Destined for a classified position somewhere in orbit 22,300 miles above the planet, the Air Force’s second Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous satellite, known as SBIRS GEO 2 for short,